Hi guys,

I've been searching through the forums every once in a while for a month now and have not been able to find 100% of the information i need to confirm my plans.

I bought a GV about a year ago and after 3 offroading trips my front axle started grinding. I looked into it and realized the front diff was toast. As a temporary fix to get the truck back on the road without having the front wheels bind and lock I installed some Manual locking hubs off of a sidekick. Now I'm looking to get 4WD working again and here is my cheap plan based on what I've read on these forums:

Front diff assembly is compatible between GV and track/kick other then gear ratios. GV=4.3   Sidekick(Manual)  = 5.12

Since the ratio is different my plan is to get the inner guts (with third member?) from the back end of the same sidekick and bolt them into the axle assembly in the rear of the GV.

Please let me know if you guys think this will work and what snags I might have in my plan.

Thanks,

Sounds like it may work. I'm not totally sure, but are you sure your GV has the 4.30 gear ratio? If it does and your looking for one I have a complete rear third out of a 95 Tracker, 4.30 ratio I can sell pretty reasonable. But I thought it was your FRONT diff that had the problem?

I have a GV 4.30 front and rear diff available as well.

Whoops, after rechecking at http://zukiworld.com/section_technical/technical_spec_grandvitara.htm it turns out i was looking at the manual model. My ratio is the 4.875.

And yeah I only NEED a new front diff (although the rear does make a slight wine on the highway.) I think I'd like to switch to sidekick diffs for the lower ratio as I do plan on lifting it and up-sizing the tires. Also, I think the whole problem with the front diffs on the GVs are the automatic engaging diff. I already have a front 5.12 off a sidekick. And theres always a couple sidekicks in the junkyard here in Calgary.

 Your best bet would be to just use the 5.12s from the Kick in both ends... The only question is what year they are from... If they are 96-98 then you are golden because of the 26 spline front diff is the same as your GV setup... Otherwise you would have to swap out the side gears or just get a newer Kick front...

Your best bet would be to just use the 5.12s from the Kick in both ends... The only question is what year they are from... If they are 96-98 then you are golden because of the 26 spline front diff is the same as your GV setup... Otherwise you would have to swap out the side gears or just get a newer Kick front...

Hmm, I neglected the spline count... I definitely have an older sidekick front. And most of the sidekicks i see are going to be older as well.

How hard is it to change the side gears?

I think this guide on installing a spool in a sammy diff should be enough for me to try and swap some 26 spline sidegears into some older sidekick diffs to get them going in my GV

http://www.madzuks.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=92

Thanks everyone for the help!